[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And who made the fight a mess in the first place, Kitaoka? And don't kill me for this one but to me, I think Ouja, Rider wise isn't my favorite in design. He's better than Gai and Raia IMO, but I don't like his design as much as the others (Ryuki and Scissors are debatable though). Same for his Final Vent, I know it's a bicycle kick but the movement IMO is like someone helplessly waving their body around due to falling from heights, which makes it quite silly to me especially for a serious hardened Rider. The end of the episode is one of the best showdowns, a Rider with their huge serpent-themed monster facing off.

I really dug Asakura's Final Vent. I love the build up, the Snake Run he does to charge up his kick. It's properly theatrical.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Shibaura's death is also, an ironic death like Scissors. He wants to manipulate other Riders to fight each other AND he thinks that he can manipulate Asakura too, but at the end, he's the one getting manipulated instead by the people he thought will manipulate, Asakura, by using him as a human shield for Ouja. Gai is the best Guard Vent!

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Yeah, I love what happened to Gai here. His whole M.O. up to this point had been about manipulating the rules of the game and the other players in order to get ahead and he assumed that Asakura would be another chess piece that he could move around the board. But instead, Asakura basically picks up the chessboard and smacks Gai upside the head with it. It's a really good example of the difference between lawful evil and chaotic evil.

It's a poetic ending for Shibaura, being so confident in his manipulations that he doesn't consider that he maybe stacked the deck against himself. (No, uh, pun intended.) If he'd not decided to jump in, to add himself to the conflict, maybe he'd've been in a better position to capitalize? But, you know, that's not our (our!) Shibaura. He's raised to feel invincible, and he never has to suffer the consequences of his actions. So inevitably he's going to get in too deep with a contest that's literally life or death. At least he died like he lived: assuming he wouldn't be devoured by a rhino monster who lived in a mirror.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Tbf it's the first time Shiro directly interacts with her again, he lied to her to keep her out of it but she's not convinced. May I ask, what impression she gave to you at the first few episodes?

I guess in the beginning I thought Yui'd be more integral, more of an equal partner in the story. But the show very quickly sidelined her into Damsel territory, where her main role is to worry about the boys. There's a... she has a weakness that doesn't feel merited by her place in the narrative, and it makes her questing feel kind-of embarrassing. What could be a mix of anger, guilt, confusion, shame, fear... it all plays as sort-of whiny and lame to me. Her search for answers doesn't have a forceful drive behind it, to me, so much as it has Yui looking pathetic. I don't know if it's the character or the performance, but she comes off as the kind of person you can't ever confide in, because she'll just start crying if you tell her anything honest.

I was hoping she'd be the peacemaker, the balance between Ren and Shinji, but she's mostly been The Fragile Woman, the character that needs to be protected from everything in the story, physically or emotionally.

It's a bummer.